A Royal Affair

So, did you get up early and watch the royal wedding last Friday morning?

The build-up to this event was just ridiculous, wasn't it?

I mean, they're cute and all, but I really wasn't actively trying to follow any of it. And I definitely wasn't planning on being in front of the TV at 6 a.m. when I could be sleeping.

Until...

I got invited (and extremely pressured) to come to a little "wedding party" at a co-worker's house beginning at 4 or 5 a.m.! I work in a small office with all women and one of our part time dietitian's has been planning and talking about a royal wedding breakfast for months. She wanted to invite everyone to her home dressed in their "finest robes" (bath robes) and a tiara or hat and she would serve a "full English breakfast" while we watched the royal wedding.

Okay. I appreciate her enthusiasm and I love a well-planned/themed party... but come on! We all had to work later that day! I tried to think of a way out of it, but our hostess wasn't taking no for an answer and it seemed only polite to support something that was that important to a friend. The wedding didn't start till 6 so my plan was to set my alarm for 5:00 and leave my house at 5:15 to be into Toledo by 5:45... But I overslept. I ended up getting to her house at a little after 6 and I missed the whole pre-wedding entrance and the processional.

I wore my bath robe over my work clothes but I didn't have a tiara or hat so our hostess lent me one of hers. You'll see how silly I look further down. My boss also bought everyone some plastic bling for our hands (huge jeweled rings) from the party supply store. And the food was really good! Did you know the English serve baked beans for breakfast? On toast. Eew. I didn't eat that. But she did have tea and scones, an egg casserole and lots of other sweet breads, yogurt with granola, fruit salad, non-alcoholic sparkling wine (blueberry pomegranate!), etc. All served on/in fine china, silver and crystal. And each guest went home with individual homemade wedding cakes! She went all out!

And truly... Kate was a beautiful bride. Elegant and timeless. I don't know how she managed to look so calm. I would have been freaking out with nerves under that much pressure and attention. There were supposedly a million people outside along the parade path from the church to the reception. And I've heard of LOTS of other people planning early morning breakfast parties similar to ours! That's crazy! I still feel crazy for attending! But it was pretty fun. And I did make it through the work day without falling asleep. Craig and I even went out to see a movie that night and I made it through that too. :)

Here are some pics from our party. Don't laugh at my hat - I only wore it for a couple minutes. ;)

Some people dressed up, some wore their robes, some just dressed comfortably.
Our hostess, Beth, is in the black robe on the right.

My co-worker Debbie and I.

Hey! I said don't laugh! They put the hat on my head like that. I would have tipped it back or to the side. Instead of fancy, I look like a cowboy. ;)

My boss brought her daughter, who came wearing frills and furs, heels and a tiara. :)

Another co-worker, Gwen.

Oh, Craig would never survive in a house with this TV. No high definition and she doesn't even have cable! :) But it was fine.

We wore our bling all day at work! ;)

The girl on the left in the picture above is Megan. She's Craig's age and we were hired about two months apart in early 2004. Both of us had just finished our internships and both were engaged to be married that year, three months apart. Megan has one daughter who is four months older than Sophie. So we've been pretty close in all our life milestones and she's probably my closest friend at work.

Oh, and since I never have my camera with me at work, I thought I'd take a picture of my little cubby since this is where I spend most of time away from home.

When I used to pump in here every day while I was nursing, I had to just hang a curtain up over my doorway. It was interesting, but I rarely had any problems.

So that's my work place! Our small office is covered with pictures/posters of food and breastfeeding info. And there are always little kids running in and out of my office. :) It's my home away from home!

And now that I have parties on the brain, that reminds me:

I've got to get to Target today and see what I can round up to start planning Will's birthday party! I know we just did a light monkey theme last year, but I was kind of thinking it'd be cute to do the Paul Frank Julious monkey as a theme. Hmm... we'll see...